Now You're Just Being a Scrooge
by Kukipye
Summary: "Could you just stop obsessing over that sock?" "-it's not a sock. It's a stocking." "Some of us don't celebrate Christmas, you know?" "It's the spirit of giving! Surely you can manage that?" Will some people get around to seeing the point of the holiday spirit? With a bit of nudging [coughshovingcough], they just might…
1. With All the Relative Craziness

**A/N: A collection of short related chapters leading up to Christmas day. :) Enjoy!**

* * *

"Is it straight?"

"I think it's about 7 degrees off. Shel, could you just stop obsessing over that sock? We have a _test_ tomorrow! And it's going to be the last one before the holidays! So it counts like, double!"

"Firstly, it's not a _sock_. It's a stocking. And who cares about the test? It's Thursday! Tomorrow's gonna be Friday then Saturday, then Sunday then Monday then Christmas! I don't know for the life of me how you can stay so calm."

Shelby gave the stocking pinned to the wall above her desk one last squinty-eyed inspection, shifted it up 7 degrees and bounded over to Laura, who was sitting on her bed reading a textbook.

Then she promptly snatched it out of her hands and threw it into the air. "Lighten up!" she cheered.

An irate Scottie stood up and retrieved her textbook from the floor. "I'm going to study at Otto's," she grumbled, slapping her hand against the panel next to the door and when the door slid open, exited.

Inside the room, Shelby clapped her hands happily. "Finally! Now where was her present…?"

* * *

Otto and Wing's room wasn't much better off. In fact, it was probably worse. There were shiny snowflakes on strings hanging from the ceiling, _two_ socks- er, stockings pinned to the bathroom door and even a mini Christmas tree strung with lights that blinked red, green and white.

As Laura stood in the doorway trying to digest the fact that the room seemed to have suddenly… _transformed_, Otto popped up in front of her wearing a fluffy Santa hat.

"Hi Laura!" he said, and plopped an identical Santa hat on her head.

She grabbed it by the pom-pom and yanked it off, resulting in several red hairs to be charged by static and stand up, floating like jellyfish above her head. "And I thought _you_ of all people would at least be going through your notes for the test tomorrow."

Otto grinned. "I don't have to study – you know that Laura! And besides I have to get all his stuff up in time for Christmas!" He waved his arms up and down frantically.

It was only then did Laura notice the giant box on the floor filled with – were those decorations?! "You mean…" she stuttered, "…there's more?!"

"Well of course!" Otto exclaimed, waving his arms around even more. "You think this is all?"

With that, he turned and snatched something from the box and threw it at Laura. It hit her full in the chest and she staggered backwards, dropping the textbook with a thunk.

The something was poky. And it was sharp. And scratchy. And…plastic.

Laura peeled it off of her black Alpha stream jumpsuit and looked at it. A wreath. Festooned with fake plastic berries on the fake plastic bristles.

"Hang it up on the door, will ya?" Otto called from the box, where he had stuck his head, shoulders and arms in it to a depth that seemed illogical given the height of the box.

"But it'll fall off when the door opens," Laura informed him, clutching the wreath and staring at the white door.

Finally Otto's head popped out from the box. "Then nail it above the door!" Then he resumed rummaging around in the box…

…leaving Laura standing in the middle of the room wondering how the heck she was supposed to nail a wreath above the door without 1) a hammer 2) a nail and 3) a ladder.

"Otto…?" she began, now staring at the white wall directly above the door.

"Yep?" Otto asked, pulling himself out of the box dragging after him a blow-up reindeer. Or at least that's what it looked like.

"No hammer, no nail, no ladder. Sorry, I'm not getting this up, unless you've suddenly gotten some magic skills to conjure all those things out of thin air." Laura said, shrugging.

"Actually…"

"You have _magic?!_"

"Wiiing!" Otto called.

Said person appeared behind Laura, seemingly out of thin air. Seemingly.

Otto snapped his fingers at Wing. "Take care of the wreath."

Nodding, the tall Asian took it from Laura's hands and held it against the wall above the door. Then he slammed his palm down on the wreath and it stayed.

"What- but Wing! You're not going to let Otto just boss you around like that, are you? And how did you even get that to stay? And… and-" Laura exploded.

Wing leaned down and muttered to her. "Better just do what he says until the whole holiday thing blows over."

Laura pursed her lips and thought. It did make sense. All they would have to do was to help them put up decorations and deal with all the relative craziness and the so-called holiday spirit until Christmas was over and things would go back to normal. Or as normal as things could be when you lived in a volcano where teens were being trained to be villains who occasionally fought against more villainous villains. Yes, she would put up with the crazy Christmas preparations.

But that didn't mean she would have to _enjoy_ it.

* * *

**A/N: Next update in a couple days… ^-^**


	2. Mistletoe Denial

**A/N: Ottra in this chappie for those who wish to know. :D I think I'll bump up the rating to K-plus…**

* * *

After an afternoon of hanging around helping at Otto and Wing's room, where the decorations _still_ apparently hadn't run out yet, Laura returned to her shared room and collapsed onto her bed exhausted. Which was when she realized she hadn't actually gotten any studying done for their test the next day. She groaned and rolled over, smushing her face into her pillow.

And that was why a certain pony-tailed blonde decided that it was the perfect time to attempt to cheer her roommate up.

"What's wrong Laura?" She bounced over, high on Holiday Spirit.

"I'm tired, so shove off Shel. I didn't even study," the Scottie mumbled into her pillow. Then she rolled over to face the wall. "G'night."

"But it's not even lock-down yet!" Shelby protested a millisecond before there was an audible click from the door as lock-down began until 6am the next morning. "Ok, never mind that. But still. You should be up coding or decoding or doing whatever! Not being all bah-hum-buggy!"

"I'm just tired," Laura replied and pulled the covers over herself.

Shelby huffed and resumed stringing Christmas lights all over the room so that even when the lights were turned off everything was illuminated by the tiny multi-colored blinking lights filled with that gas she'd forgotten the name of.

After a while she could hear the rhythmic deep breaths from Laura's side of the room, which was occasionally accompanied with little contented sighs that made Shelby wonder whether her roommate was dreaming about a certain non-red-eyed albino.

And a little later (like about 4 to 5 hours), though to her Shelby Standard Christmas Décor the room still wasn't completely up to uh, standard, she stopped; let go of the shiny glass bauble she'd been sleepily trying and failing to hang up; and dropped down onto her bed, asleep as soon as she'd gotten her hair out of her hair-tie, removed her shoes, slipped a fabric eyeshade over her head and settled down under the blanket.

Meanwhile the glass bauble hit the floor silently and didn't break.

Maybe there was some Christmas magic in the air after all...

* * *

Laura sat in her Logistics and Operations classroom - which was the last class of the day, dutifully completing the test, she noticed that several (okay, _many_) of her classmates were pretty jittery. She pushed it aside as pre-winter-break excitement and filled in her last answer.

Then after a while of watching the rest of the students scribbling in random answers to the questions on the sheets of paper, the sound of-

_MWAH, MWAAAAAH, MWAH!_

Everyone scrambled up from their desks, threw their backpacks over their shoulders and tossed the test papers in the general direction of the teacher's desk, attempting to squeeze out of the classroom door all at once.

Paper, of course, being _paper_, didn't really make it to the intended target and scattered around the classroom. Only the select few who weren't so caught up by the excitement, (like our dear Scottie friend over here), bothered to stay behind to help Mr. Rictor pick up the tests.

"Thanks children," Mr. Rictor said, breathing heavily after bending down to pick up a couple of test papers. He stood by his desk and watched Laura and a couple of the others pick up the rest.

_Children_. Not that it was technically wrong, since they _were_ (sort of), but still – it sounded just a bit strange.

Laura walked out of the classroom and was just entering Accommodation Block 7 after handing the sheaf of test papers she'd collected to Mr. Rictor, only to be confronted by the sight of a huge hole in the middle of the atrium.

Well….

It wasn't exactly a hole in a sense.

Not really.

_Really_, it was just a large area that all the students were giving a wide berth.

Except for the aforementioned non-red-eyed albino, who was lounging quite happily on a couch directly in the center of the empty area.

Laura, confused, moved forward into the block and made to walk towards Otto. Halfway there, she was tackled by a blonde.

"Don't go there," Shelby hissed into her ear as she gripped Laura's arm and swiftly dragged the half-walking-half-stumbling girl to another couch on one end of the accommodation block, where one would have a perfect view of Otto if they sat on a particular spot of the couch.

Laura sat down on the couch rubbing her arm where she was certain a bruise would show up the next day. "Why?"

"Because," the American explained rather impatiently, "I want to see how long it took before someone walks up to the dude. I feel bad for whichever poor and ignorant soul does though…"

"Why? Did Otto do that whole not bathing for a month experiment thing again?"

"What- no! Besides you would have smelt it if he had. We had brekkie this morning together – remember? And you know, the morning before that… plus you guys spend so much time together in the labs you would have smelt him already- wait. Eww. That's disgusting. Never mind." Shelby's face screwed up in disgust for a second then it cleared and she looked at Laura. "Didn't you see it?"

"See what?" Laura said, instantly looking all around the accommodation block just in case a supremely evil psychopathic homicidal AI was holding Otto captive on that couch and would kill anybody who stepped near him.

Shelby sighed. "The mistletoe. You know, the thing _directly above the albino's head_?"

Laura blinked. Then looked above Otto's head to the high ceiling, where there was, indeed, a teensy little sprig of something greenish.

"So?" she asked innocently. There wasn't a trace of fakery in it.

Shelby grabbed her friend and roommate by the shoulders and shook her. "Are you serious girl?! I mean, I know you don't celebrate Christmas and all but this?! This! How do you not know about the mistletoe?"

"Well, you if you could just _tell_ me," Laura said testily, removing herself from Shelby's grasp.

"Right. Whichever two people stand beneath the mistletoe have to kiss. It's tradition. Oh wait a sec… That's perfect for you, Brand! Come on, let's go get you under that plant with Malpense!" Without letting Laura reply, Shelby pulled Laura to her feet and toward the couch.

Laura dug in her heels and managed to stop the blonde. "What makes you think I want to kiss Otto? We're just friends!"

"Tell that to your subconscious Brand. It's been blurting out secrets to me since our first year here." Shelby said. The two of them were standing a couple of meters away from the imaginary circle of Otto's.

Laura's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You _drugged_ me?"

"No of course not! Nothing like that. You talk in your sleep…!"

"Wha- oh. I thought that habit went away when I- never mind. Anyway. No matter what my _subconscious_ 'says', me and Otto are just friends."

Shelby put her hands on her friend's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "Look. You're right!"

Laura looked at her friend warily. Her roommate _never_ gave up that easily.

Shelby grinned. "At least you are now. After this kiss you'll be more than that!" Then she straightened up and fairly beamed.

Laura crossed her arms. "Look Shelby. I appreciate you trying to be the matchmaker and all, but I do _not _ need you to set me up with Otto."

That said, she turned on her heel and stalked back to their shared room, trying to convince herself that it was true.

…

That mistletoe would do a better job than Shelby at playing matchmaker, anyway.

Not that she needed one.

Or at least that's what she would keep telling herself.

Still…

Otto was just sitting there…

Under the mistletoe…

No.

_No_.

She and Otto were _just_ friends.

_Just friends_.

And she believed it.

Sort of.

* * *

**A/N: I realize this chapter probably has waaaaay too many italicizing. [shrug] Next chapter update soon! (I know I'm going pretty fast with this but I want the final and fourth chapter to be up by Tuesday, so.)**


	3. Naughties, HIVEmind and Popcorn

**A/N: Enjooooooy! Let's see how Nero deals with all the Christmas preparations… :D**

* * *

Shelby and Laura went into the elevator with a couple of other students to go down to the atrium of Accommodation Block 7, where they found Otto with a somewhat reluctant looking Wing standing beside him.

The white-haired boy was holding a standard brown clipboard on which a long paper was clipped, long enough to roll off the clipboard and end in a heap by his feet. He studied it carefully, tapping a wooden 2B pencil against his chin occasionally.

When they reached the accommodation block atrium, the doors of the elevator hissed open. Wing pressed a button on the panel to keep the doors open and Otto, situated directly next to the doors, finally looked up from his clipboard. He gestured for a first-year in a SciTech uniform to move forward.

Hesitantly, the first-year made to walk out of the lift but Wing held out an arm, barring him from stepping out. Otto looked at the first-year.

"Name?" he ordered.

The first-year stared confusedly at Otto. "Timothy Mckoy…"

"Timothy, hmm? Ok. You can go." Otto said, nodding to Wing, who lifted his arm and let Timothy go, who beat a hasty retreat. Otto scribbled down something on the paper as Wing re-barred the exit.

Laura and Shelby watched as the same procedure was used for the next student who walked up to the pair, leaving only the four of them in the elevator.

Laura stalked, with Shelby right behind her, up to Otto, who asked for her name.

She rolled her eyes. "You know."

"You know…?" Otto said, baffled. Then he looked up from his clipboard and noticed that it was Laura. "Oh hey Laura."

"What're you doing?"

"Compiling a list to make it easier for Santa."

She moved to stand beside him and peered over his shoulder at the paper. What she saw was … perplexing. There was name after name on one end, one below each other on one end of the paper and on the other, a heading of _Naughty_ and _Nice_. Below the headings were boxes with little ticks in either one. Needless to say, they were all in one column.

Shelby, who was peeking at the list over Otto's other shoulder, snorted. "You know Otto, we go to a school for future megalomaniacs of the world. There shouldn't even _be _a 'nice'."

Laura chimed in. "Aye, I mean who would you even put under it?"

Otto gathered the papers up in his arms and showed them the very beginning of the list.

_Otto Malpense, NICE_

_Wing Fanchu, NICE_

_Laura Brand, NICE_

_Shelby Trinity, NAUGHTY_

"Wha— HEY!" Shelby punched Otto in the arm furiously.

"Ow!" Otto yelled back, wincing.

"I'm nice!" Shelby adopted a pouty innocent face.

"Well you could start proving that by not smacking me," Otto grumbled, but submissively erased the tick under the Naughty column and moved it to the Nice.

"That's better," Shelby said cheerfully. Then linking her arm through Wing's she walked out of the lift, Otto and Laura just behind them.

Laura bit her lip. "The thing is Otto… Santa isn't real," she pointed out.

Otto glared at her. "Sshhhh! Don't say that," he whispered, then in a louder voice: "Santa Claus is totally real."

"Yeah right," Laura muttered sarcastically under her breath.

And thus, bantering about the existence of Father Christmas, the geeks made their way to breakfast behind a blonde and a tall guy.

* * *

Laura walked out of the library carrying her laptop and was almost knocked down by a yellow and black blur.

_Bees, _she instinctively thought, shielding her face behind her matte black laptop.

Then the swarm of bees stopped moving and Shelby materialized from the blur in front of her. "Laura!" she exclaimed, "Lauralauralauralauralaura! I need your help – quick! Help me paste all this-" she shoved rolls of wallpaper into Laura's arms, "up on all the main hallways! Before Otto gets his side done!"

Laura studied the wallpaper that had so recently been thrust into her arms. It was red and green with little Santa men and reindeer and presents scattered on it. She hesitantly walked back into the library and put her laptop down behind the books on the shelves so it would be hidden on both sides. Then walking back out, she unfolded the wallpaper and noticed that Shelby had covered the hallways' walls with glue. She let out an explosive sigh and began to slowly paste the wallpaper.

* * *

The Scottie later regretted being roped in to help put up the wallpaper, because apparently it also included putting up decorations. Like hanging Christmas baubles from the ceiling. And putting up Christmas lights along the walls.

Otto zoomed by on the opposite side of the corridor; mini potted Christmas trees in his arms and at equal intervals, set them down on the ground with a _thunk_.

The intervals were very equal.

Shelby zipped by next, down the middle of the hall, placing models of reindeer down at random places, almost like an obstacle course, but far enough apart so the students wouldn't have _too_ much trouble walking.

* * *

Maximilian Nero was not having a good day. First his coffee making machine had broken down and he'd had to resort to _tea_, then Trinity had been doodling elaborate Santa Clauses on her notepad and constantly not paying attention in class and Malpense had interrupted him three times too many.

Speaking of the devil… Nero rounded the corner and found Malpense busy nailing a wreath to his office door.

"Mr Malpense," Nero growled, narrowing his eyes, "what do you think you're doing?"

Otto smiled cheerfully back at him. "Spreading the Christmas cheer, Dr Nero!"

Suddenly his Blackbox bleeped, causing both to look at his pocket. Otto retrieved it from his jumpsuit and flipped it open. "Oh," he said, looking at the screen's contents, "sorry sir. I have to go now. My friends are looking for me."

He gave the wreath's nail one more whack with his hammer; yelped when it missed and his thumb and then he was off.

Nero watched the boy head off down the hall and then with a frustrated sigh, attempted to yank the festive wreath off his door. All that came off were several bristles and he shook them off his hand, resolving to get someone, _anyone_, to remove that thing.

As he settled down in his chair at his desk inside, Nero opened his Blackbox to speak to HIVEmind. "Hello Dr Nero, how may I be of assistance?" HIVEmind questioned politely.

"Ah – er," Nero's eyes fairly bulged out of his head when he saw the AI. He was wearing a Santa hat and a colorful scarf was wrapped around his blue wire-frame neck. "HIVEmind," he said, "who did this to you?"

"Who did what, Dr Nero?" HIVEmind said pleasantly, supposedly oblivious to the hat and scarf.

"The hat, HIVEmind. Who put the…Santa hat on you and gave you the scarf?"

"Oh that." HIVEmind practically grinned. "Otto. I think it's rather nice he thought to include me in his Christmas preparations."

Nero frowned. Of _course_. He should have expected it. The boy was the only one who would be able to alter HIVEmind's image. And apparently HIVEmind appreciated it. He closed his eyes briefly then opened them and looked at HIVEmind, who was still waiting patiently for Nero to reply.

"HIVEmind, could you please remove them?" he asked through gritted teeth.

HIVEmind gave him a small nod. "As you wish," he said somewhat sadly, and the Santa hat dropped off his head and the scarf unwound itself from his neck, falling off. "Is there anything else for which I am needed?" HIVEmind asked when the process was done.

Nero nodded briskly. "Yes, thank you HIVEmind. Could you please send Raven up here?"

"Yes, of course."

* * *

Raven pushed open the door of Nero's office, poking her head in. She saw Nero sitting at his desk, head in his hands. She walked in silently and sat down in a chair on the other side of Nero's desk.

Nero finally looked up and smiled tiredly at Raven. "Natalya," he said simply.

"It's Otto and co. isn't it?" Raven replied.

"You've seen the halls, haven't you?"

"Well yes. But the halls I walked through were devoid of the foursome. It was, however, quite full of model snowmen and Father Christmases."

Nero groaned. "It's worse than I thought. Raven, could you please go deal out some suitable punishments? I need to order a new coffee machine."

Nodding, Raven stood up from her seat. "Is that all then Max?"

"Yes, Natalya."

* * *

**While Nero was starting to attempt to take the wreath off of his door...**

Laura sat glumly on Wing's bed, watching as the popcorn chains crept closer and closer.

The evil masterminds behind the popcorn henchmen were none other than Otto and Shelby. Otto was seated on his bed while Shelby was on the floor near the door. Wing was sitting on the bed next to her, calmly threading popcorn through the string, which, Laura remembered with a start, was what she was supposed to be doing too, not watching the invading army of popcorn on a string slinking nearer and nearer to her.

With a suppressed sigh, she poked a needle through the popcorn and shifted it towards the rest already looped on the string. Even if she were allowed to leave the Popcorn Chaining Party, she couldn't. Webs of popcorn chains were all over the floor, making it impossible to walk without crushing a popcorn. Which would inevitably cause either Shelby or Otto to be furious. Laura didn't know which would be worse – to have an angry Shelby/Otto on your hands or to have to endure perhaps hours of popcorn chaining.

She decided on the former. Usually it would be the latter, but seeing as it _was_ Christmastime, it just might tip the two Alphas over the edge the teensiest bit more.

Resignedly, the Scottie added one more popcorn to the line, hoping she would at least be able to leave before lock-down. Otherwise she would possibly have to spend the whole night _threading popcorn_.

The thought was almost too unbearable to think...


	4. Have a Very Merry Christmas at HIVE

It was 8:02am and Laura crept across the atrium, keeping to the shadows and hoping that she was being adequately stealthy and the unsuspecting students blocking her were enough to not be detected by Shelby or Otto.

Today was Christmas day and Shelby had left their cell the second lock-down had ended, supposedly to go check under the giant Christmas tree they'd set up in the small but tall cave that was the main junction of all other corridors. Students had been discreetly placing presents under the tree for each other, almost like an unspoken Secret Santa project. The packages were wrapped in any sort of paper they could find, and Laura had even spotted a few wrapped in torn textbook pages or unfinished homework papers.

Laura stepped quietly over a lone bauble that was lying abandoned on the ground, bumping directly into something. Or rather – someone.

"You too, then?"

Laura looked up into the Asian's face and smiled. "Oh hey Wing. Yeah. Trying to keep out of their way." Se hadn't even seen Wing in front of her. Typical ninja. You never see them unless they want to be seen… or until you bump into them, as was Laura's case.

"Shouldn't be too hard," Wing replied, looking at something in the distance.

Laura tiptoed, trying to see what Wing could, but being a great deal shorter than Wing and not able to see over most of the other students' heads, she couldn't.

Wing, noticing Laura's failed attempt, had a flicker of a smile at the corner of his mouth but in an instant it was gone. "They are selling those red and white Christmas hats," he informed her.

"Really? Selling?" Laura almost sighed. Trust those two to figure out some way to make money out of what was supposed to be a giving season.

"Well, no. I believe they are just giving them away for free, judging by that sign."

Giving them away for _free_? Now that she had to see. Laura stepped out of the shadows, turning back to look at Wing. "But I thought that they would be at least a little bit more covert seeing as what punishments we got yesterday."

Wing cracked a smile at her. "Yes. Though, I don't know if you noticed, but Raven seemed slightly less harsh with our punishments. Perhaps she is feeling the holiday spirit too."

"Perhaps." Laura said. "You coming?" She jerked her head towards Shelby and Otto.

Wing shook his head. "No. I think I'll stay here and… observe."

Laura shrugged and walked towards the pair, who were standing behind a makeshift booth with a large sign hanging over it that read in Otto's familiar messy scrawl:

_FREE SANTA HATS!  
FREEEEEEEEEEEE!_

Rolling her eyes at the overuse of the letter 'e's, Laura strode up to the booth. As she got closer, she could hear the two engaged in a heated debate.

"You gave away that hat!" Otto was stage whispering to Shelby.

"I've given away a lot of hats, Otto." Shelby said, handing a Pol/Fi a Santa hat.

"But that one was _special_!"

"They're all identical, dude."

"No. That one was different."

"Really? How so?"

"It was fluffier than the rest."

"Look – why do you care so much anyway? You've got the best one there is already."

It was true. Otto's Santa hat was the perfect shade of red – not too bright, not too dark – with the fluffiest pom-pom that jingled with a hidden bell every time it moved. Otto had ditched the one he'd worn when he was first decorating, having declared it dusty although (this being HIVE) there hadn't been a speck of dust on it. A couple of days later this one had turned up on his head.

Laura couldn't actually remember what happened to her own Santa hat. Maybe she'd purposely left it behind at Otto and Wing's room. She gave up on the topic, tossing it aside. Then, wondering what was the reason behind Otto's interest in that particular Santa hat, inched closer, hoping she wouldn't be spotted.

"I was saving it for Lau— Oh, hi… Laura…" Otto said nervously, glancing at the Scottie and plunging his hands into the huge cardboard box of hats in front of him and rummaging around. He avoided catching her eye completely and Laura thought she saw his normally pale face turn a little pink.

"Hi guys! So I heard you're giving out these for free, huh? Doesn't seem like you." Laura said, resting her elbows on the counter of the booth.

Finally Otto looked up, glaring at Shelby. "Yeah well. We were _going_ to _sell_ them via trading. But _someone_ was in a very happy mood."

"It's the spirit of giving!" Shelby said in a singsong tune.

Laura nodded. "Agreed. Although I don't celebrate Christmas, there _is_ still that."

Shelby cheered happily. "I knew you'd finally get it Brand!"

"Yeah whatever," Laura said quickly, hoping to avoid a round of Shelby's 'I told you so's.

Shelby grinned. "I'll let that go _just_ this once, Laurs."

"Laurs? Since when was that my nickname?!"

"Since I said so. Now here." Shelby pulled a hat out from the box, shoved it in Otto's hands and pushed him out from behind the booth and towards Laura. "Otto has something to tell you. See you guys later!" She turned around and passed a waiting Sci/Tech student another hat.

"But—but," Otto protested weakly, gripping the Santa hat with both hands and looking at Shelby. "Don't you, um, need help?"

Shelby waved it off. "Nah, I'll be fine," she called to them.

Laura half-smiled at Otto's awkwardness as he turned to face her. What exactly did he need to tell her? "So… d'you want to go to the lab?" She asked at last, to help ease the tension.

Otto nodded stiffly and began walking, Laura right beside him.

* * *

Back at the booth, Shelby smiled, satisfied, as she watched the two amble off. A shadow moved at her feet, and her smile broadened. "Hi Wing," she said turning around.

"Shelby," Wing acknowledged, nodding his head at the blonde.

Shelby laughed. "That's _all_ I get? Merry Christmas, Wing!" On impulse, she threw her arms around the boy and hugged him. After a tentative moment, she felt his arms move as he returned it. Looking up, Shelby's grin became bigger, if that was even possible. Wing, met her eye and smiled back, leaning down to brush his lips ever so gently against hers.

And that was the best present of all.

* * *

A minute of full silence.

That was all Laura got, after she and Otto had sat down next to each other in one of the empty science labs.

She broke his gaze and settled her eyes on a little spiral in the metal table next to her, probably etched in there by a previous student. She traced it with a finger, feeling the grooves and waiting for Otto to say something.

"Laura?"

His voice seemed unnaturally loud, cutting through the thick and not at all comfortable silence.

Laura looked up, her finger still on the groove. "Yeah?"

Otto stretched out a hand limply, the Santa hat from Shelby hanging from his fingers. "Here," he said quietly.

Laura glared at him. She'd had a while to think it over, hoping against hopes that he just might be finally telling her what she wanted him too. But she shouldn't have. It just made it hurt worse when he didn't. She stood up, the metal legs of the stool scraping harshly against the floor. "Thanks, but no thanks," she said icily. Then she walked as quickly as she could away from the boy, before the tears threatening to spill out actually did.

"No wait, Laura!"

She heard his footsteps behind her and quickened her pace, hoping she would at least be able to make it out the door.

Suddenly arms were around her, trapping her, turning her around to confront a familiar face.

A teardrop finally succeeded, running down the side of her face slowly. Laura saw Otto's eyes widen slightly at this, and then he gently swiped it away, his hand lingering on her cheek. He pulled her closer and whispered into her hair. "Don't cry. Why are you crying, Laura?"

Laura shook her head, her forehead now resting on his shoulder.

Typical Otto tried to guess. "Was it the hat? Did you not like the hat? I was saving a special one for you but—"

Laura cut in. "It's not the hat Otto," she gave a shaky laugh, "it's… it's you."

"_Me?_"

"Yeah…you." If he wouldn't get it… well, she wouldn't tell him. Laura pushed away from him but his hands still kept a firm grip on her arms.

"No, Laura, wait. Look at me. In the eye. Please?"

Hesitantly, Laura looked up into the little blue pools and Otto felt her relax a bit.

"Laura?"

"Mm?"

So relaxed that her eyes were actually closed now, so she didn't see what was coming, but they flicked open immediately when Otto's lips found hers. Smiling slightly, she shut her eyes gradually again.

* * *

Yes. This was the best Christmas ever– agreed by four particular Alphas but rather disagreed by a certain headmaster and his pet assassin.

* * *

**A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!**

**Did my best for that Ottra and Wingelby up there. I think they're pretty okay… for my usual standard at least.**

**Thanks to anyone who read this Christmas fic! And a special thanks to Chameleons – who reviewed each and every single chapter.**

**…school starts in a week… [sigh]**

**-Kukipye ^-^**


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